Chinese astronauts aboard Shenzhou-15 spacecraft reach the Tiangong space station
Shenzhou-15
China's spacecraft Shenzhou-15, carrying three astronauts, successfully reached the Tiangong space station on Wednesday, hours after beinglaunched from the Gobi Desert in northwest China late Tuesday.
A Long March-2F carrier rocket, carrying the spacecraft, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gansu Province at 11:08 PM (local time) Tuesday.
The mission is China's first-ever crew handover in orbit.Ahead of the launch, the Chinese space agency said at a news conference that the team is led by veteran Fei Junlong and two first-time astronauts Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu.
Previously, Fei commanded the Shenzhou-6 mission in 2005. The 57-year-old is returning to space after 17 years. His team will join three other astronauts aboard the Tiangong space station, who arrived in early June.
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Ji Qiming, a spokesman for CMSA said: "The... main responsibilities for the mission are.. achieving the first crew-handover in orbit, installing... equipment and facilities inside and outside the space station and carrying out scientific experiments."
"During the stay, the Shenzhou-15 crew will welcome the visiting Tianzhou-6 cargo ship and hand over (operations to) the Shenzhou-16 manned spaceship, and are planning to return to China's Dongfeng landing site in May next year."
What do we know about the Tiangong space station?
Tiangong space station is constructed by China and operated by CMSA in low Earth orbit between 340 and 450 km above the surface. It is one of the most important parts of Beijing's ambitious space programme.
China aimed to land robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon. With the launch of three people into the pace, China became the third country to put humans in orbit.
Bejing is also looking forward to catching up with major spacefaring powers, the United States and Russia. The Chinese state media said that Tiangong's final module successfully docked with the core structure earlier this month, as the nation expects the completion by year's end.
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